Upcoming
Talks In Brazil Expected To Highlight Problems With GE Food
(Beyond Pesticides, March 16, 2006) United Nations
talks on the global trade in genetically engineered (GE), or biotech
foods and crops will highlight the gap between countries demanding the
right to regulate imports of GE products and the huge business interests
that seek to benefit from weak rules.

The identification
and labeling of imports of GE products will be the key debate in Curitiba,
Brazil at the 3rd Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety on March 13-17, 2006. The biotech industries consistently
opposed clear identification and labeling requirements for any of the
GE crops on the market today. Without clear labeling many countries,
especially developing countries with their limited resources, are unable
to protect their food supply and environment from GE contamination.

Nnimmo Bassey, International
Coordinator of the Friends
of the Earth GE Campaign said: " These talks are key to protecting
the environment and the world's food supply from contamination from
the biotech industry. Every country should have the right to know what
is being imported and to decide if they want to eat genetically modified
foods or not. African countries and other developing countries will
not be the dumping ground for genetically modified crops that no one
else wants."

The Cartagena
Biosafety Protocol, which was originally agreed to in January 2000,
provides basic international rules that allow mainly developing countries
to regulate the safety of GE foods, crops and seeds. It has been ratified
by 132 countries but the three main countries that grow GE crops - the
United States, Argentina and Canada - have refused to support it. Talks
broke down in Montreal in June 2005 after Brazil and New Zealand blocked
proposals that would have allowed the majority of developing countries
to know if GE grains were being imported.

Ten years after
the first significant planting of GE crops, no plants with benefits
to consumers or the environment have materialized and GE crops have
failed to deliver the promises of the biotech industry. More than 80%
of the area cultivated with biotech crops is still concentrated in only
three countries: the US, Argentina and Canada. Friends of the Earth
International recently published
a report that concluded:

* GE crops are not
'green'. Monsanto's GE soybeans, the most extensively grown GE crop
today, has led to an increase in herbicide use. The intensive cultivation
of soybeans in South America is fostering deforestation, and has been
associated with a decline in soil fertility and soil erosion.

* GE crops do not tackle hunger or poverty. Most GE crops commercialized
so far are destined for animal feed, not for food, and none have been
introduced to address hunger and poverty issues. In Argentina, the second
biggest producer of GE crops in the world, only 2% of the soy stays
in the country. Other developing countries, such as Indonesia and India,
have experienced substantial problems with Monsanto's GE crops, often
leaving farmers heavily indebted.

* The biotech industry has failed to introduce the promised 'new generation'
of GE crops with consumer benefits. After 30 years of research, only
two modifications have made it to the marketplace on any scale: insect
resistance and herbicide tolerance.